Hypodermic projectile



June 4, 1968 T. E. FERB 3,386,381

HYPODERMIC PROJECTILE Filed July 6. 1966 mvsmon Thomas E. Ferb ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,386,381 HYPODERMIC PROJECTILE Thomas E. Ferb, 63 Barton Ave.,

Staten Island, NY. 10306 Filed July 6, 1966, Ser. No. 563,125 8 Claims. (Cl. 102-92 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hypodermic projectile is provided which is adapted to inject a liquid drug into an animal or human upon impact therewith, the projectile including a hollow body having a puncturable front wall and a rear wall with a liquid drug therein. A slidable piston member is provided in the hollow body with a needle extending therefrom also located within the body. The needle has a pair of apertures communicating with a hollow center thereof so that when the piston is forced forwardly, the needle pierces the front Wall of the hollow body into the animal or human and as the piston moves forward, the liquid drug will be forced through the needle and into the animal or human being treated.

This invention relates generally to drug administering devices and more particularly to a drugged bullet capable of utilization with conventional weapons, being conventional in appearance, and having handling characteristics associated with common type shells, cartridges and the like.

Whereas, it is often desirable to merely temporarily incapacitate a victim rather than to inflict a fatal wound thereto, drugged projectiles have been advantageously used in the past, especially in connection with tagging procedures concerning the migrational study of animals. The handling of such devices is, however, inexpedient, and the use thereof by police and other law enforcement authorities has been limited. That is, those devices comprising the prior art are not suitable for use in conventional firearms in lieu of common caliber type bullets inasmuch as careful preparation and especial expertise in their use is required.

Accordingly, and consonant with the foregoing, the primary object of the present invention resides in the provision of a hypodermic projectile which can be readily substituted for ordinary bullets and therefore used in place thereof in conventional revolvers, rifles, air guns, and the like.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide a hypodermic projectile including a drug-injecting needle, the latter being wholly contained within the projectile, protrusion of said needle being effected only upon impact of the projectile with the victim.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a device in accordance with the foregoing including piston means slidably mounted within the body of the projectile, said piston means being adapted to pressurize a liquid drug contained therein to thereby cause rapid ejection of said drug into the victim.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a hypodermic projectile of the foregoing character which may be fired from either an explosive charge-containingshell casing or directly from a gun barrel by gas, spring or other thrust-producing instrumentality.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a drugged bullet especially adapted to humane ends and capable of affording the firing accuracy ordinarily associated with bullets of a more destructive nature.

Another general object of the present invention is to provide a device of the described character which will be simple in structure, economical of manufacture and highly effective in use.

Patented June 4, 1968 Other objects and advantages of the instant hypodermic bullet will be set forth hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice of the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the structure defined and pointed out in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings referred to herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate one embodiment of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the hypodermic bullet shown in ejected relation with respect to a conventional shell casing;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional elevational view of the hypodermic bullet including the projectile and shell casing elements thereof in assembled form and including an explosive powder charge disposed intermediately of the projectile and casing;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a crosssectional elevational view of the hypodermic projectile per se; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional elevational view of the projectile subsequent to impact with a target body.

Referring now in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompan ing drawings, FIGURES 1-5 show the hypodermic projectile designated generally by numeral 1 in the various positions as heretofore described. More specifically, the hypodermic projectile is comprised of a hollow body 2 having a puncturable forward wall 4 and a rearward wall 6, drug-holding portion 8 being, as shown, disposed between said forward and rearward walls, said drug-holding portion being adapted to contain a predetermined dosage of liquid drug.

Piston member 10 which is, as shown, disposed between said forward and rearward walls, is slidably arranged therebetween for movement substantially over the extent of said drug-holding portion. Thus, in FIGURE 4, said piston member is positioned adjacent rearward wall 6, while in FIGURE 5, said piston member is shown relocated in proximity with respect to said forward wall 4. Sealing means such as recessed O-ring 12 is preferably disposed annularly of the piston member 10 to thereby provide a slidable seal between said piston member and inner wall 14 of said hollow body 2. Accordingly, movement of said piston member from the rearward to the forward walls, 6 and 4, respectively, will compress or pressurize the liquid drug 16 to cause ejection thereof in the manner hereinbelow described.

Hollow needle 18 is connected at end 20 thereof to said piston member, such connection being accomplished by imbedding the end 20 into said piston member and preferably centrally or coaxially thereof. The other end 22 of said needle is arranged to face said forward wall 4 and in the preferred embodiment illustrated, the tip 24 of said needle is supported within guide recess 26 provided centrally of bullet-head 28. Aperture 30 provided through the side wall of hollow needle 18, as shown, is in communicative relation with opening 32 also provided through the side wall of said needle and located at end 22 thereof. Therefore, it will be readily understood that pressurization of liquid drug 16 will result in the flow thereof into said aperture 30, thence through the hollow interior of said needle and emission therefrom at opening 32. Specifically, such emission is eifectuated upon impact of projectile 1 with a target, i.e., an animal or human being. Upon impact, whereat projectile I is stopped or where, at the least, its forward velocity is abruptly reduced, the momentum of piston member 10 will cause the latter to continue forward within drug-holding portion 8 whereby the liquid drug 16 will be pressurized between said piston member and the inside surface 34 of bullet-head 28. Inasmuch as said bullet-head, including the forward wall 4 thereof is puncturable, needle 18, by reason of its connection with piston member 10, will upon impact of the projectile with a. target as described, pierce said bullet-head as shown in FIGURE 5. Said bullet-head is preferably formed of a yieldable material whereby a seal will be maintained in the pierced region 36 to preclude loss of pressure between the piston and inside surface 34. Further, to avoid the formation of a vacuum in the region 38 behind piston member 10, which would otherwise restrict the forward movement of said piston member, apertures 40 are provided adjacently of rearward wall 6 of said hollow body. Although a single aperture would suffice, a more uniform introduction of air into region 38 is afforded where a plurality of apertures are uniformly provided.

Inasmuch as the needle of the projectile is always, prior to impact, entirely disposed between the forward and rearward walls thereof, said projectile can be handled and utilized in the manner of a conventional bullet and is, therefore, shown herein as a component of an ordinary-appearing cartridge 25 as shown assembled and dis assembled in FIGURES 2 and 1, respectively.

Accordingly, shell casing 42 is employed to substantially envelop said projectile as shown in FIGURE 2. More specifically, the projectile 1 is removably secured, preferably by the usual press-fit, within the casing 42, bullet-head 28 being arranged to partially project from opening 44 of said casing. Further, as illustrated, an explosive powder charge 46 is contained between the rearward wall 6 of said projectile and wall 48 of said casing. To establish a slidable, sealing and tight relation between outer wall 50 of said hollow body 2 and inner wall 52 of said shell casing, sealing means or O-rings 54 and 56 are recessedly disposed annularly of said hollow body as shown. It will be appreciated that although O-ring type seals such as 12, 54 and 56 are preferred herein, other devices which may be suitably utilized to such ends are contemplated.

The cartridge 25, in the form shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 may be of currently used Calibers or of other suitable sizes as may be desirable. The powder charge 46 can be varied depending upon the effective ranges desired. Further, projectile 1 may be suitably fired by gas, spring or other advantageous propulsive mechanisms and may he, therefore, utilized with or without a shell casing depending upon the thrust-producing means utilized.

In operation, the projectile loaded with a liquid drug of the type required for the particular purpose, is fired from a pistol or rifle of conventional type. Of course, blow guns and other firing instrumentalities may, if desired, be employed. Upon striking a target 60, hollow body 2 of the projectile and the bullet-head 28 thereof will be appreciably slowed down or halted. Unable to overcome inertial forces, however, piston member will continue forward within said hollow body and carry needle 18 forward to occasion piercing of puncturable wall 4 thereby. The needle will, as shown in FIGURE 5 of the drawings, be embedded within the target and the dosage of liquid drug 16 will exude, under pressure through opening 32 and rapidly flow into the target. As intended, the target, either animal or human will promptly be immobilized due to the effect of the drug, such immobilization being temporary rather than lasting, such effect being the desideratum of the present invention.

Although the preferred embodiment of the hypodermic projectile structure has been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the forms, details, proportion and arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hypodermic projectile adapted to inject a liquid drug into an animal or human target upon impact therewith, comprising a hollow body having a puncturable forward wall and a rearward wall, and a drug-holding portion between said walls, said drugholding portion being adapted to contain a dosage of liquid drug, a slidably movable piston member within said drug-holding portion, a needle having a hollow center disposed longitudinally thereof, said needle being connected at one end to said piston member and the other end thereof being disposed behind said forward wall and interiorly of said projectile, said needle having a pair of apertures communicably related via said hollow center, said piston member being more proximate with respect to said rearward wall than said forward wall when said drug-holding portion contains said liquid drug dosage, said needle being adapted to pierce said forward wall upon impact of said projectile with a target whereupon said piston and needle will move in unison relative said hollow body whereby said liquid drug will be forced through said needle and into said target.

2. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in claim 1 comprising a bullet-head including said forward puncturable wall.

3. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in claim 2 wherein said other end of said needle is partially imbedded within said bullet-head.

4. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of said pair of apertures is provided through the side wall of said needle.

5. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in claim 1 wherein said hollow body is provided with at least one aperture, said aperture being located on the side of said piston member facing said rearward wall.

6. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said hollow body includes inner and outer walls, said outer wall having sealing means disposed annularly thereof.

7. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in claim 6 wherein said piston member includes sealing means disposed annularly thereof, said sealing means forming a slidable seal between said piston member and said inner wall of said hollow body.

8. A hypodermic projectile as set forth in claim 1 in combination with a shell casing, said shell casing having a wall at one end and an opening at the other end, said projectile being removably secured within said shell casing whereby said puncturable wall is disposed at said opening of said shell casing, and an explosive charge contained between said rearward wall of said projectile and said wall at one end of said shell casing.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 9/1953 Canada. 3/1955 Italy.

ROBERT F. STAHL, Primary Examiner. 

